


get you wild, make you leave

by dreamboatqueen



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post season finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 17:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11212740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamboatqueen/pseuds/dreamboatqueen
Summary: Betty tries to evaluate where her and Jughead stand after he accepts the jacket. The two soon realize there are more pressing issues at hand, rushing to the hospital and finding Archie at a breaking point.





	get you wild, make you leave

**Author's Note:**

> Requested on tumblr: "Betty gets hurt from something and jughead comforts her". Follow me @p0e-damer0n and send in any Bughead requests! This is my first time writing them so let me know what you think in the comments. Any suggestions are hugely appreciated!

The shot from Pop’s seemed to destroy whatever foundation Riverdale had remaining. For them, all four of them, it had always been a safe place full of warmth, good food, and happy memories. They felt like normal teenagers amidst chaos, snuggled up in a booth and sipping milkshakes while sharing fleeting moments of laughter.

There was no laughter as Archie lay on the cold linoleum floor, broken hand keeping pressure on his father’s gushing wound. Archie was unable to hear anything after the bell rang as his father’s assailant ran. Emergency vehicles rushed to the scene of the crime, gently lifting Fred’s body onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. Sheriff Keller had insisted it would be best if he gave Archie a ride to the hospital instead. Even as the sheriff tries to coax information about the event out of him, Archie remains numb and speechless, as if his body was all that remained.

* * *

Betty woke up in a cold bed, feeling a tightness in her face left by tear stains. She had spent the night at FP’s trailer after the Serpents had visited Jughead. As she watched him accept the worn black leather jacket, her chest seemed to shrink in a way that made her feel sick. After everything Jughead had done for the town, he ended up being punished. Despite the efforts of Archie and Betty, Jughead was officially made a child of the system and destined to live with a foster family on the other side of town until he turned eighteen, unless FP was somehow absolved of a prison sentence. Seeing him shrug on the battered leather sleeves, Betty saw an inexplicable flash of darkness in his eyes; he truly looked like FP in that moment.

Once the Serpents left, the two had argued into the late hours of the night. When Betty tried to walk home, Jughead insisted she stay, if only until the sun came up. He let her take the bed, while he avoided slumber by working on his writing on the couch. She’s surprised when she feels a light hand on her arm, blinking awake while adjusting to the morning sunlight.

“Juggie?” she says with a sleepy voice.

“I-I’m sorry to wake you,” he says. “We need to go… it’s Fred.”

She instantly gets up, assessing the gravity of the situation by Jughead’s sunken expression and struggle for words. The tension between the two remains as they stay silent, Betty smoothing out her blouse before putting her hair up in a tight ponytail.

* * *

Archie sits in the waiting room of Riverdale Hospital, a cold cup of weak coffee next to him in a Styrofoam cup. At one point, Sheriff Keller had opted to leave him alone. There was still no news about his father’s condition, except that it remained critical. He barely looks up when he recognizes that he’s no longer alone.

“Arch,” Betty says, barely above a whisper. When his body language indicates no movement or speech, she sits down in the chair next to his and wraps her arm around him while he sinks further into himself.

All Jughead can do is watch; comforting others was never a strength of his, though it was very much an intrinsic quality of Betty Cooper. Somewhere, deep within, there is a twinge of jealousy as Jughead’s insecurity eats away at him. He wonders if he will always be scared of the day Archie might change his mind about his feelings for Betty. While he knows it’s irrational and has been scolded by Betty many times for worrying about such a thing, part of him acknowledges that everything good in his life eventually comes to a very unfortunate end.

“We’re going to get through this, Arch. It’s going to be okay.” Betty tells him. That’s when Archie’s composure snaps, remembering the conversation he had with his dad the previous night.

“No, Betty. It’s not. No matter what we do… who we help… whatever we find to be true. Bad things keep happening to us. This town isn’t the same anymore. _We’re_ not the same. I don’t want you looking at this like some new story with a perfect ending. My dad’s in there and he could be dead as we speak–”

“I didn’t mean…” she cuts him off but finds herself struggling for words. She’s never seen him like this and her voice comes out barely above a whisper. “We’re here for you Archie. We’d do anything for you.”

“Well there’s nothing you can do. And I don’t need another speech on seeing the good in Riverdale.” Archie tells her, standing up quickly and leaving the waiting room.

Betty feels a familiar sting in her palms growing, until a hand gently grabs her wrist. Jughead takes a seat next to Betty and waits for her to release her hands from the tight fists they’ve formed. She thinks there are tears running down her cheeks but she is entirely too exhausted to cry. Archie’s words stung – but she understands every bit of his frustration. His life was spinning out of control, and even though Betty could recognize where he was coming from, she couldn’t help the immense hurt she felt as he pushed her away.

“It’s not your fault,” Jughead says, breaking his silence. Suddenly, their argument of hours ago seems distant and irrelevant. Betty wants to melt into Jughead’s touch and bury her face in his neck until this all passes. She knows she should be stronger; be the Betty that Jughead and Archie probably need right now, but it’s all too much and she’s just _exhausted_.

“What are we gonna do, Juggie?” she asks as he wraps his arms around her, letting her sink against his sturdy chest.

“We’ll figure it out. We always do.”


End file.
